


Tomorrow

by Houjuu



Series: The LL High School AU [2]
Category: The Lorien Legacies - All Media Types
Genre: High School AU, Homecoming AU, M/M, mentioned sixrah, stohn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 05:45:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8566279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Houjuu/pseuds/Houjuu
Summary: When his life flips from popular bad boy to hopeful athlete trying to find his place, Stanley Worthington realizes his time in Paradise, Ohio might be starting to run out. How was it Homecoming season already?





	

To Stanley, the year should only just be getting started. As he waited for the light at the intersection to turn green before the familiar long strip of fields of his date’s, he didn't know if he felt angry or disappointed. His summer shouldn't be over, his month and a half in Cancun couldn't possibly just be gone and done with. He shouldn’t have spent all day up until now in the back of his closet of his school year home, wrinkling and tossing every dress shirt he owned across the room in desperation.

Where was all of his time going off to that today was now his final Paradise High homecoming?

The same question has gripped him with every shirt he pulled abruptly off of each hanger. Who thought rose gold was a good color on him? How was it possible for him to get a neon green dress shirt? Did he really only have twenty bow ties by the same two designers? What happened to the four from the Devektra family People magazine article photo shoots over the summer?

Stanley Worthington should not be worrying about Homecoming this early in the school year. But alas, the first month of his senior semester past by thanks to Stanley busying himself with his new circle of friends, his strict workout routine, the two and a half hour football practices every day after school, his studies -sometimes he studies anyway, he's not a book smart, rich kid, just a rich kid- and of course, his new boyfriend.

“Boyfriend,” he murmured aloud to himself with a smile. The word practically tasted good; it took saying the two syllables in a quiet voice to overcome his shock just a tad. It had only been five months but to Stanley, those five months felt like five separate lifetimes they had lived and died through together.

The team won their Homecoming football game last night with ease. Mogadore High School might be their leading rivals but everyone in the entire state knew how weak the school’s football program was. Stanley could hold back two guys on the team if he needed to while junior Nigel and Stanley’s life long teammate Mark had a the special wide receiver to quarterback only the college and NFL teams ever saw.

He asked John Smith to the dance like most boys would, he had just walked up and implied the two of them going together before spirit week started.

“So we’re probably going to meet our friends there. It's homecoming, not a celebrity meet and greet. Even if I'm a celebrity.”

“Who... said we're going at all?” Stanley loved when John suspected the worst out of him. It meant he could excite and surprise his boyfriend time and time again.

“I did, just now.”

Beat.

“Wanna go with the esteemed Paradise High Defensive Line Captain?”

“Only if you never call yourself that again,” Stanley loved John’s little laugh after talking back too. He could honestly be in love with this boy but Stanley Worthington was never going to admit that to himself.

That was that. Stanley knew his boyfriend well enough by now. He knew John would have killed him if he did anything too public and informal. John wasn't going to be “a trophy wife” like he so stubbornly loved to call it. Stanley also respected him enough to give him the right kind of spotlight, a private one between the two of them and their friends. It held intimacy, it gave them room to develop their relationship amongst themselves before making it known.

“Sorry I’m a little early, I want to get a good parking spot,” Stanley immediately apologized when John cocked an eyebrow and opened the door to the front seat.

“You can buy nice Convertibles in fancy colors but you can’t buy a parking spot for a high school dance,” John bit back, smirking as he closed the door and buckled.

“I’d rather buy you a nice dinner and cut through the traffic than waste my Benjamins on a shitty high school,” Stanley countered back with a sneaky grin of his own. “You seriously need a buckle? What, don’t trust me driving, Johnny boy?”

“No, I really don’t. You almost clipped a guy speeding to the Reds-Cubs game last summer,” John replied dryly,

“So what’s one time?”

“What about that one time you were almost late to a football game because you were doing a Wired magazine photoshoot with your Uncle?”

“Well-”

“Or when you offered to drive Sam to his Robotics tournament and he almost puked on the side of the road when you finally parked.”

Stanley paused, thinking carefully about how much farther he wanted to dig this hole he now put himself into. 

“I’m just going to drive now,”

“Are you actually though?”

“God dammit Johnny, I get it,” Stanley snapped playfully. He couldn’t hold in his laugh. Even if the words sounded harsh, he knew John didn’t mean to hurt him. He always called for John to stand up and fight back and John sure knew how to deliver.

Stanley clicked down one of the buttons on his steering wheel a few times to change the radio to CD.

“Turning off your talk radio? What’s wrong, what happened,” John asked with genuine worry. Stanley went well out of his way to pick up and take John to school every morning, it's what he did for someone he really cared about. Naturally then John was very used to his during drive habits. Stanley always listened to talk radio in the morning; mainly it was so he didn’t have to hear about any of the rumors involving his family and with their fall home being in this city, it was weekly. Two, he loved sports. Baseball in particular; Stanley was ready to beat down anyone who dared call it boring and unoriginal.

“I just really don’t want to hear about the World Series upset tonight, I want to enjoy my time with you,” Stanley admitted, keeping his eyes on the road for fear the slightest turn to John would uncover his growing blush.

“You want to enjoy your time with me,” John repeated his date’s words carefully. “Don't you usually?”

“Of course you idiot, I mean like,.. I'm focusing on you tonight, sheesh,” Stanley stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand while the other made a turn into the parking lot of the restaurant. “Let's just get dinner and see your friends dry humping each other the dance floor.”

That made John laugh, it helped to resolve any brief tension from just moments before. 

“The day I see Sam twerk against someone else will live on in history.” 

Dinner came and went by very fast. Everything just went by fast. Stanley barely remembered ordering the pasta weezy with a side tomato basil as soon as he turned his key in the ignition. The school was another short drive; these coincidences were starting to heavily wear down on Stanley.

He pulled into a parking spot, maybe ten feet from the front entrance, and parked. John shifted in the seat next to him to unlock the door and get out but Stanley reaches over and caught his arm.

“Hey, listen, let's just have some fun tonight, alright,” Stanley grinned but he didn't know if he was telling himself those words or aas actually talking to his boyfriend.

John blinked slowly.

“Odd. I said something similar to Sarah before prom last year when the two of us went together,” he frowned, keeping his troubled blue eyes on Stanley like there was a secret practically leaking from his pores. John sat back down and turned to Stanley, taking the hand that once rested on his bicep and pressing into his palm. He gave it a light squeeze. “We're a team, right?”

 “Yeah, obviously,” Stanley quickly mumbled, trying to find the right words as quick as he could. They'd been outside for two minutes and already he was fucking up.

“That means you'll tell me when something's up, like I’ll tell you, yeah?” John spoke like it was the simplest thing in the world. His eyes never left, even as Stanley kept pulling his own gaze to stare at anything else except then incredibly handsome John Smith.

“You’re… dammit, you’re right,” Stanley breathed, closing his eyes. He couldn’t think of the words but luckily, John wasn’t going anywhere. When he opened his sight up, he found John’s concerned stare never left. Like the blonde boy was waiting for even the smallest of sign that would tell him everything he needed to know and how to fix it. If only it was that simple.

“I’m a senior in high school with no plans and the entire world is watching,” Stanley said defeatedly. He let his head bow, tearing his eyes from John’s. “They want the next big story when really they're getting the next big fai-”

“It's not about them and their paycheck, it's about you, Stanley,” John cut him off, grabbing and sharply squeezing his hand. Stanley jumped at the sudden contact and locked eyes with his boyfriend. 

“I… just don't want to fuck up.”

“And you won't.” As soon as Stanley opened his mouth to argue, to throw all of his pent up fears into the air, John closed the gap between them with a long, deep kiss.

Stanley almost couldn't remember the last time, the time before the soft skin of John Smith’s lips, where he felt bliss like this. His hands instantly shot up and tangled his fingers into John’s short blonde hair. It felt soft and matted, untouched by any kind of product. It was natural. It was John. 

That's how John likes himself, he didn't feel the need to suit up more than necessary and did Stanley love it. John never tried to impress him, he just did it. His royal blue collared shirt accented with a smooth black tie brought out the right amount of color from his already deep eyes. John liked ties, he likes the simplistic part of a tie. You folded it into a knot and left it alone for the rest of the night. He didn't like the extra work that went into a bow tie and he wasn't about to go without something to flatten his collar and finish his look.

John did love putting every piece of him into a kiss though. Stanley knew that, he could feel it with the way his palms had pressed against the skin of his face, how his arms wrapped around Stanley tightly like the world around might fall out from underneath him.

He felt a cool breeze when John broke their kiss.

“Let's go inside, yeah,” John murmured. His warm breath tickled Stanley's cheeks and nose. He opened his eyes, taking in the light pink color on John’s face from their kiss. 

“Sounds good to me.”

* * *

Homecoming, no matter how many times a person could go to one or six, was usually the same general idea. There was a mass of people in the center of the gym floor, trying to move to the music and avoid hitting as many other elbows as humanly possible. There was usually at least two smaller dance circles on the outskirts, full of sophomores and juniors who want to have their big high school moment in front of their peers. 

That’s where Stanley found himself stuck for his Senior Homecoming. He waved and patted his teammates on the back as they skirted past him with their dates in tow. Honestly, he was kind of glad he was spending this year relaxed. For one, he wasn't out of breath for most of the night.

For two, he didn't feel like he had to be the girl chasing punk anymore. He was here with a group of people who actually cared and laughed with his jokes and a boyfriend Stanley wouldn't dare compromise.

Historically, as all of Paradise High was very aware of from the last three years of Stanley Worthington, he has always been a wild animal. Stanley used to never go to dances with dates, it interfered with his obnoxious record of course. He was this esteemed, eligible bachelor with Varsity honors in every sport he played in and incredibly wealthy parents; at least, every news outlet in the state would want someone to believe that.

The reality? Stanley squeezed his eyes shut. For once in his life, he just had to force himself to move on from the demons

“I didn't know Naveen could move like that!” A junior shouted in the dance circle nearest to him.

“He's, uh, a special kind of person…” Marina, Naveen’s long term girlfriend since middle school, chimed in. Her laughter was uncomfortable but the smile was present in her voice all the same. Even if he could be a bit of an extrovert, Naveen made her very happy.

Stanley turned to look for him, to find what Nav was doing that had everyone so enthralled in him. He found the tall, tan boy in direct center of the dance circle, swaying and twirling in a series of carefully choreographed moves to Nicki Minaj. It was almost like he did this routine behind closed doors of his childhood home. Stanley had to hold in his laughter; he thought about joining him but he'd end up only thrusting and fist bumping in comparison.

Besides, the feeling of a certain someone's soft, damp lips at prom took that dangerous, uncontrollable part out of him after all.

The circle broke apart as the last few seconds of ‘Pound The Alarm’ was replaced with a beginning chords of the night’s first slow song. 

Stanley recognized it but he couldn't put a name to the song. He backed away from the circle, giving his friends some room to dance. He knew the tradition. Even if they never dated, John and Sarah always had to have at least one dance together. It was the least he could do.

His first mistake was choosing Marin Elizabeth to stand next to.

“Smith finally upgraded, huh,” she asked with a smirk.

“Just like Sarah finally realized what was holding her down all along,” he growled his response. He kept his eyes off of her but also kept them off of John and Sarah. 

“Truce truce, would you relax, Worthless,” Maren snarled back, punching him in the shoulder. He held his frown; against his football toned body, the sting from her fist wasn't as bad as it usually would be. “I don't like it either but I don't have to, I have to respect it.”

“You have feelings?” Stanley smirked when she rolled her eyes.

“Oh shut up,” she pushed him this time but he heard the smile in her voice. Fun, Stanley remembered. Let go of his fears and uncertainties and just let himself have fun. If he couldn't have fun for himself, he could at least have some for John.

“Guys guys, they have an open soda bar, Mountain Dew shots?!” Sam Goode squeaked suddenly. He ran in between Stanley and Maren, swinging his arms around both of them.

“No thanks Sam, I think you've had enough,” Maren laughed uncomfortably, sliding Sam’s arm off of her shoulder. The entire world knew how he felt about her. But, now that Maren and Sarah finally got together, the fierce, young girl wanted to shut Sam down as nicely as possible. 

“My Rockstar is only just kicking in!” Sam whined, pulling his arm off of Stanley as soon as he realized he left it there.

“What? I'm a handsome young man, Sammy. You can dance with me,” Stanley winked. Sam backed away, his eyebrow raised.

“I don't date people who are richer than me.”

 “That's like everyone.”

“Bite me, Stan the manbaby,” Sam flustered.

“Oh, yeah, like I haven't had that name for so many years,” Stanley laughed, slapping Sam on the shoulder for good measure.

As soon as his palm brushed Sam’s dress shirt, the next fast song section of the night started. Stanley felt someone bump into him as they past behind him.

The hand that lingered an extra second close to his side gave away the intruder.

“Cody I swear to god if you grind on me, I'm going to turn around,” Stanley snapped, turning to face him.

“Wow, suddenly you don't like people humping you from behind. You buckled down?” Cody sneered.

“No, I just really don’t like you hustling me from behind,” Stanley hissed back, lowering his face to match Cody’s. “Now fuck off.”

“I don't like that time of voice,” Cody smirked.

“I don't like you.”

“And I don't like seeing my boyfriend so close to another guy’s face,” John’s voice in his ear caught him off guard.

Stanley didn't have time to respond before John pulled him by the folded collar a few inches back.

“Honestly, you two will be the death of me,” he laughed. Stanley forced himself to frown his response but really the sound of John laughing made him feel warm.

“Are you ready to dance with me or not,” Stanley replied, pulling on John’s dress shirt sleeve. “That's for almost popping my collar, you could have ruined my aesthetic.”

John only raised an eyebrow, his smirk not once faltering. He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Stanley’s nose.

“I know you're not serious but shut up.” 

“Just dance with me, Johnny boy.”

His date didn't argue with that. John draped his arms across Stanley’s shoulder while the dark haired boy held him by the hips.

The song playing in the background begin then was upbeat, a recent hip hop hit that Stanley didn't know the name of, but they still swayed to the beat anyway. They kept their eyes focused on each other’s, letting the flow of the music move them. It was fascinating, that even here, where the speakers make only the sounds of the modern ages heard, that something so auditory as music could be put into the background when someone mattered so much. 

Song after song past before John and Stanley finally both broke apart and started to dance more to the beat. He finds himself lost without the warm, intimate touch of John’s blue eyes. Stanley had to hold back his surprise when John’s butt brushed against a more tender area. He stopped himself from whipping his head around and locking eyes with any person who was possibly watching; it was time to let go of what everyone else worried about.

He pulled on John’s arm and turned him around. His date had the world’s biggest smirk on and an eyebrow carefully cocked up.

“What? Too much for the big, bad Stan?”

Stanley didn’t respond, just pulled John Smith in close and pressed his lips against his own parted ones. John’s arms immediately looped around his neck, bringing himself forward into a far more warm embrace.

Stanley broke their kiss.

“Nah. Just wanted to kiss ya.”

“Yeah, sure, your face says something else,” John shook his head slowly, keeping his dilated eyes on Stanley.

“Let can talk about that later, actually dance with me this time.”

By this time, their friends decided to lump in closer to where the couple had been swaying and shaking before. Marina and Naveen held hands as Naveen pulled her and spun her for all to see. Maren and Sarah just swayed to the music, laughing at Sam as he tried to find his own rhythm while holding a paper cup full of what Stanley could only guess to be Mountain Dew. Ella and Cody were a short distance away, both holding their own cups of soda and quietly talking; after a wave and the first note of the next slower song, Ella grabbed Cody’s hand and hauled him into the midst of their friend group.

Stanley recognized it immediately. IT wasn’t that it was his favorite, it wasn’t that it was the first song he heard in the morning or the last song he played at night when his handsome boyfriend was the last echo in his thoughts. It was a lot sappier than that; it was the song that Stanley had asked John to dance with him to for the first time last Prom.

Judging by the way John’s hand squeezed his arm, he had to know too.

They turned into each other again, assuming position once more with his hands on John’s hips and John’s arm drapped across his shoulders. John once again pulled Stanley into him, causing them to drift to the song instead of sway and smile. It was more intimate, it was closer, and it was calm. Collected. Stanley could tell where this dance was going, he could feel where at least part of his his future was going. 

This moment was perfect.

The world could watch, Stanley realized. So long as he had John Smith by his side, with his head against his chest and his arms around any part of his body, Stanley could learn to care a lot less about what everyone was expecting out of him.


End file.
